Multi-Oscar-nominee Ellen Burstyn will make her London stage debut by joining Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss in The Children’s Hour at the Comedy theatre in January.
American actress Burstyn is joined in Lillian Hellman’s tale of scandal at a 1930s New England girls’ boarding school by fellow American Carol Kane and British actors Tobias Menzies, Bryony Hannah and Nancy Crane.
With a career spanning five decades, Burstyn is a hugely experienced actor on stage and screen with six Academy Award nominations for films including The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Resurrection and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, for which she won both the Oscar and a BAFTA. Her career includes many stage appearances on Broadway including Same Time Next Year, for which she won a Tony Award and another Oscar nomination when she recreated her performance on screen. Burstyn’s recent work includes films W and The Fountain.
Kane is best known in the US for appearing in popular sitcom Taxi, along with guest appearances in TV shows Chicago Hope, Seinfeld and Ugly Betty. Her films include Hester Street, Annie Hall, The Princess Bride, Scrooged and Addams Family Values, while she has recently been seen on stage in the Broadway production of blockbuster musical Wicked, playing Madam Morrible.
Balancing the American influx is British actor Menzies, who is best known for playing Brutus in Rome and screen work including Bond film Casino Royale, Persuasion, Foyle’s War and Spooks. A frequent face on London’s stages, Menzies has credits including King Lear at the Young Vic, Three Sisters at the Playhouse theatre and Cloud Nine at the Almeida theatre.
Crane is also a London theatre regular whose credits include Love The Sinner at the National Theatre, Now Or Later at the Royal Court and the current production of Design For Living at the Old Vic. Hannah has appeared frequently at the National Theatre in productions including Earthquakes In London, The Pillowman and War Horse.
The cast is completed by Amy Dawson (Edmund in the West End) and Isabel Ellison (Red Bud at the Royal Court).
The Children’s Hour plays at the Comedy theatre from 22 January to 2 April, with a press night on 9 February. It follows Birdsong, which ends it run on 15 January.
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